I love books. I love tea. I love the way they complement each other so well, and want to share. So here is my blog about books and tea - but with a twist. Instead of a traditional book review, I am going to review a book half way through. I won't know the ending - you may or may not know the ending - feel free to laugh at me for being dead wrong, praise me for being bang on, or just be intrigued enough to see how the book ends for yourself! For a little treat enjoy some tea suggestions! WELCOME!

Pages

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Things Half in Shadow by Alan Finn

Anyone who knows my reading tastes knows that I am a sucker
for anything to do with mediums and séances or ghosts and mysticism from around
the turn of the century. I have always loved a good ghost story, although they
terrify me, which is weird, since I don’t believe in ghosts in the slightest,
so I am not completely sure where the terror or the obsession comes from. Honestly,
I would love for ghosts and spirits to be real, just like I would love for
magic and the supernatural to be real. How cool would that be! But I just don’t.
That doesn’t stop me, however, from loving stories about it, and there is something
about the darkness of the mid-1800s to early 1900s, revolutionary scientific
and technological advances were being made and society was starting to
modernise, while at the same time there was a trend towards dark and
sensational tales. Mediums and spiritualists were all the rage – from high
society to the dirt poor, everyone wanted to hear their future or talk to the
dead. The mediums themselves were
celebrities and the techniques they employed to trick the masses; or help those
suffering with their losses (How charitable the mediums were as they stole all of
your money) were incredibly ingenious. So when I saw the description for Things Half in Shadow on Net Galley, I knew that I wanted to read it.

So far, I am thoroughly enjoying this novel. Edward Clark works
as a reporter in Philadelphia in 1869 and has just been assigned with
defrauding all of the mediums in the city. It’s not a job that he is the least
bit interested in, he doesn’t believe in spirits or ghosts, and has no interest
in becoming involved. However, his soon-to-be father in law, Thornton
Willoughby of Willoughby Hats, thinks that it is a brilliant idea and since
Edward very much wants to please his prospective family he agrees to take on
the case. His first defrauding is a resounding success, except that he has underestimated
his mark. See, Edward Clark is a man with secrets, secrets that he has done a
very good job of hiding from everyone, until he gets on the wrong side of Lucy
Collins. Threatening him with the demise of his carefully constructed new life,
Edward unwillingly agrees to take Lucy on as his partner in defrauding the
other mediums in the city. On their first night out Lucy and Edward see some
things they can’t explain and they talk to spirits from their past, spirits
that their medium could know nothing about. The action doesn’t end there though
and the next day they both find themselves murder suspects.

Like I said, I am thoroughly enjoying the story. Alan Finn,
the pen name for mystery writer Todd Ritter, has done a great job of re-creating
postbellum Philadelphia – with
emotionally and physically wounded soldiers back from war, unsure how to live
in peace and unsure of their roles in the world anymore; women who are starting
to demand more for themselves; and class distinctions and barriers that were
slowly starting to be broken down, although everyone is still painfully aware
of the divisions. My only complaint so far would be with Edwards’s character. I
really enjoyed him at the beginning, but I am finding that his character is
just a little too weak; he gets a little too surprised whenever he encounters a
woman with a backbone. Although that’s
not completely right – he is happy when his finance, Violet, shows strength in
supporting him, but annoyed when Lucy shows strength in disagreeing with him,
or acts too forward and independent. I
am pretty sure that Finn is attempting to show us Edward growing as a man and
learning the value of women – but I’d rather like it if he had had a little
more respect to start with. It’s not just with women though; in general he
backs down pretty quickly and gets walked over a fair bit. He is afraid of
anyone thinking anything negative about him and will avoid confrontations at
any cost (except with his valet – which slightly annoys me, since I see this
happening only because Edward belongs to a high class of citizen. Although, to
be fair, his valet deserves it). His aversion to taking a stand creates some
rather messy situations that could have been easily avoided, but also don’t
really further the plot, so I am not sure why it’s necessary for him to be such
a simpering man. My assumption (and I could be totally wrong) is that Finn is
trying to show us a man caught up in an adventure that he wants no part of, but
is being forced by circumstances beyond his control – however this could have
been accomplished without turning Edward into a bit of a man-child. I am
definitely biased though; I have a natural aversion to weak willed heroes.

Luckily my problems with Edward are not really affecting my
enjoyment of the story itself. There is enough spookiness and unanswered
questions to keep me going. I am curious about the role that the bees seem to
be taking (they keep appearing in visions of those who have passed) and I truly
have no idea who the actual murder is. I am not sure at all what direction the
story is going to take – will the ghosts and spirits be real? Or a conjuror’s
trick? And what really happened to Edward’s mother when he was a child? These
are questions that I really want answers too – so back to the kobo for me!

I've been thinking about the perfect tea to compliment this story and I think I have come up with a good one. The Spice is Right is a sweet, spicy tea from David's. Its one of my favourites - there is just enough spice to make things fun, but not enough to overwhelm. I think that maybe if Edward had a little more spice in his morning tea maybe he'd find it a little easier to have a little more fun?

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.